The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"The Gould"

Antonio Stradivari (Italian, Cremona 1644–1737 Cremona)

Date:: 1693
Geography:: Cremona, Italy
Medium:: Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions:: Label: 19.7 x 59 cm (7 3/4 x 23 1/4 in.)
Classification:: Chordophone-Lute
Credit Line:: Gift of George Gould, 1955
Accession Number:: 55.86 a-c

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 684

Description

This Antonio Stradivari violin is the only one in existence that has been restored to its original Baroque form. Before modification to produce a louder, more brilliant tone and to extend the left-hand technique to higher positions, Baroque violins had gut strings, a short fingerboard, and a neck angled back only slightly from the body. Today, few fine violins show these original features.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Marking: (sticker pasted inside body) Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis/Faciebat Anno 1693.
References

Dobney Jayson Kerr. "Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (2011), pg. 43, ill.

Libin Laurence. "Musical Instruments in The Metropolitan Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (1978), Vol. XXXV, No. 3, pg. 36, ill.

Malcolm Bilson , piano, Sonya Monosoff , violin in Historic Instruments in Performance. LP. Recording., Pleiades Records M1807. 1977.
See also
Who
Antonio Stradivari (4)
What
Wood (7,651)

Musical instruments (5,241)

Chordophones (1,444)

Softwood (1,177)

Lutes (698)

Maple (503)

Ebony (362)

Violins (130)

Spruce (125)
Where
Europe (148,586)

Italy (20,983)

Lombardy (316)

Cremona (9)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
Musical Instruments (5,221)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Musical Terms for the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Violin Makers: Nicolò Amati (1596–1684) and Antonio Stradivari (ca. 1644–1737)

Venice and Northern Italy, 1600–1800 A.D.

Venice and Northern Italy, 1600–1800 A.D.